Products made from a fibrous web are used for a variety of purposes. For example, paper towels, facial tissues, toilet tissues, napkins, and the like are in constant use in modern industrialized societies. The large demand for such paper products has created a demand for improved versions of the products. If the paper products such as paper towels, facial tissues, napkins, toilet tissues, mop heads, and the like are to perform their intended tasks and to find wide acceptance, they must possess certain physical characteristics.
Among the more important of these characteristics are strength, softness, absorbency, and cleaning ability. Strength is the ability of a paper web to retain its physical integrity during use. Softness is the pleasing tactile sensation consumers perceive when they use the paper for its intended purposes. Absorbency is the characteristic of the paper that allows the paper to take up and retain fluids, particularly water and aqueous solutions and suspensions. The absolute quantity of fluid a given amount of paper will hold is important, but also the rate at which the paper will absorb the fluid. Cleaning ability refers to a fibrous structures' capacity to remove and/or retain soil, dirt, or body fluids from a surface, such as a kitchen counter, or body part, such as the face or hands of a user.
Through-air drying (“TAD”) papermaking belts comprising a reinforcing member and a resinous framework, and/or the fibrous webs made using these belts, are known and described, for example, in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,239, issued Jul. 9, 1985 to Trokhan. Trokhan teaches a belt in which the resinous framework is joined to the fluid-permeable reinforcing member (such as a woven structure, or a felt). The resinous framework may be continuous, semi-continuous, comprise a plurality of discrete protuberances, or any combination thereof. The resinous framework extends outwardly from the reinforcing member to form a web-side of the belt (i.e., the surface upon which the web is disposed during a papermaking process), a backside opposite to the web-side, and deflection conduits extending therebetween. The deflection conduits provide spaces into which papermaking fibers deflect under application of a pressure differential during a papermaking process. Because of this quality, such papermaking belts are also known in the art as “deflection members.”
An improvement on deflection members to be used as papermaking belts to provide paper having increased surface area is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/132,291, filed Apr. 19, 2016 in the name of Manifold et al., teaching deflection members made via additive manufacturing, such as 3-D printing.
However, the deflection members and processes of Manifold et al. can be improved in areas related to the economical commercialization of processes regarding commercial papermaking machines or commercial nonwoven making. Improvements can be made with respect to the size of an additively manufactured deflection member and its durability when used to make a fibrous web. Papermaking processes, for example, can require belts as wide as 110 or 220 inches and as long as 60 meters, and can be required to endure extreme temperatures, tensions, and pressures in a cyclic process.
Accordingly, there is an unmet need for a deflection member having a three-dimensional topography afforded by additive manufacturing on which fibrous webs can be formed, and which can endure the processing environment of a fibrous web making machine.
Additionally, there is an unmet need for a method for making a deflection member having a three-dimensional topography afforded by additive manufacturing on which fibrous webs can be formed, and which can endure the processing environment of a fibrous web making machine.
Additionally, there is a need for improved nonwovens for use as topsheets in baby care and fem care products. Accordingly, there is an unmet need for a deflection member having a three-dimensional topography afforded by additive manufacturing on which nonwoven webs can be formed, and which can endure the processing environment of a nonwoven web making machine. Further, there is an unmet need for a method for making a deflection member having a three-dimensional topography afforded by additive manufacturing on which nonwoven webs can be formed, and which can endure the processing environment of a nonwoven web making machine.